1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a droplet jetting applicator that jets droplets to a to-be-coated object to coat the object and a method for manufacturing a coated body.
2. Discussion of the Background
A droplet jetting applicator has been generally used to manufacture various display apparatuses such as a liquid crystal display apparatus, an organic Electro Luminescence (EL) display apparatus, an electron emission display apparatus, a plasma display apparatus, and an electrophoresis display apparatus.
A droplet jetting applicator includes: a droplet jetting head having a plurality of nozzles for jetting droplets (e.g., ink droplets) to a to-be-coated object, respectively (e.g., ink jet head); and a drying unit for drying droplets adhered to the to-be-coated object, for example. This droplet jetting applicator uses the droplet jetting head to adhere droplets on a to-be-coated object to form a dot column having a predetermined pattern to dry the droplets on the to-be-coated object, thereby manufacturing a coated body such as a color filter or a black matrix (frame of the color filter) for example.
With regards to the droplet jetting applicator as described above, such a droplet jetting applicator has been suggested that dries, while a to-be-coated object being dried, ink by a vacuum drying (see JP-A No. 2001-235277(KOKAI) and JP-A No. 2003-234273(KOKAI) for example). This droplet jetting applicator has a drying unit that includes, for example, an exhaust section that exhausts gas in a storage space for storing a to-be-coated object coated with droplets (e.g., vacuum chamber) to vacuumize the storage space.
However, ink dried by the vacuum drying with a high speed causes airflow in the storage space that dries the ink surface on the to-be-coated object. This causes, before gas generated from the ink (e.g., solvent, moisture, dissolved gas) is completely removed, formation of a thin film on the ink surface (i.e., surface layer film). When gas is generated from the ink while such a surface layer film being left on the ink surface, the gas causes an explosion of the surface layer film at the ink surface to cause ink to flow from the exploded part. This causes ink to fly or to be extruded, causing a defectively-manufactured coated body.